The Good, The Bad and the Goddamn Untrustworthy
by DreyaofCamelot
Summary: Arthur is king of Camelot and all is well. Or is it? Summer has brought down a tirade of abuse on the servants of Camelot from the visiting southern lords but there is one who is worse than the others. Merlin can stop it. But at what cost? Can he keep the servants and Arthur safe without sacrificing himself?
1. Chapter 1

_**Hi guys! this is my second merlin fic, i hope you like traditional guy (adorable) Merlin. (If you dont know what i`m talking about check out my other fanfic! Anyway please review and favourite and tell your friends! Anyways enjoy! :)**_

**Hungry kings and dirty dealings.**

"MERLIN!" Arthur was in a bad mood. Just great. Merlin tripped up the stairs and through into Arthur's room. Typically he slopped most of the bucket of water that he was carrying all over the stone flagged floor. The grumpy king in question gave Merlin a "Hungry Arthur" glare from his four poster bed and threw a well aimed boot at the raven haired servant's head. Merlin yelped and nearly dropped the serving tray of breakfast that he had in the other hand.

"Calm down your royal pratliness! Foods coming" Merlin placed the plate of bread, fruit and cheese onto the table by Arthur's bed and retreated to a safer distance (although there wasn't really "safe" when it came to a hungry Arthur.) When he reached the king's wardrobe he began to pull out the light red tunic and breeches that were suitable for a Camelot summer.

The last few weeks had been blazing hot, with a unshrouded sun beating down on the city's cobblestones, the days had at first been filled with lazy hunting trips and laying around in the sun for the nobles. But for Merlin and the other servants the change of weather meant more sweat soaked clothes to wash, polishing and cleaning away all the winter dirt and preparing the castle for the ever visiting lords and ladies.

"I'll need my training gear today and I want my practice sword polished, the southern lords are arriving today and I want to put Lord Tomas on his ass again" Arthur commented as he began to devour his breakfast while his manservant busied himself cleaning the room. "Oh and I want you to stay out of the way of all of the guests and if you have to go near them, do exactly what they say. Slavery is only recently outlawed in the southern lands, they still treat their servants like slaves though"  
>Merlin looked up at Arthur, the king's tone sounded unusually serious, he nodded and went back to picking up the various bits of dirty laundry about the room.<p>

The servant straightened up and left the room with a full basket of dirty socks, shirts and tunics. He walked at his own pace to the laundry room, there were many other servants - mostly women in the overcrowded, clean smelling room.

Merlin chatted and charmed good-naturedly with them as he usually did - Merlin may be clumsy but he was so loveable that no one could resist his cheerful, never ending babble. But Merlin's smile disappeared as one of the serving girls he knew quite well came in - her name was Merrill. What made the manservant falter wasn't the look of forced calm, underneath which Merrill was obviously nearly in tears. No, it was the fact that her right eye was blackened and swollen and she was clutching her arm as if it hurt her badly.

"Merrill! What happened?!" chorused the clamber of serving girls as they abandoned their work and rushed over to the usually cheerful, red haired girl. "Its….its nothing. . I'm .. Fine" said Merrill shakily, weakly trying to push past her group of worried friends. Merlin came over to her and put his hand gently on her shoulder, turned her around and led her back out of the room. "Merrill, calm down and tell me what happened. I'm taking you to Gaius to get you looked at" Merrill began to object but a look from Merlin silenced her "That must hurt" said Merlin, gesturing to her black eye. Merrill nodded but remained silent.

"Who did it?" asked Merlin in a worried tone as he led the trembling girl to Gaius's chambers. Merrill shook her head violently "No, I cant say anything…. He'd kill me" Merrill broke down into tears. "Shhh, its ok, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to"  
>When Merlin and Merrill entered the room Gaius took one look at the sobbing girl and began to mix a poultice without even answering any questions he applied the greenish muck to the serving girl's bruised eye. When Gaius went on to examine her arm Merrill cried out and the old man proclaimed the arm broken. In two places.<p>

Gaius gave the injured serving girl a tonic to help with the pain and the healing, she left with one of the other serving girls with strict instructions to rest at home and not work for at least a week, Merrill had complained about not being able to work but complied when both Gaius and Merlin fixed her with a look that left no room for argument. After Merrill had left Merlin silently made an oath to himself and to Merrill. He would find out who had done this to her, no matter what it took.


	2. Watching him

**_My second chapter. How was the first? Did i get Arthur and Merlin`s relationship right? Anyway please enjoy. Oh By the way this fanfic is rated "M" because of the later chapters, there will be violence, threats, mentions of rape and just general creepyness. Enjoy!_**

**Watching him. **

Arthur entered the candle lit banquet hall that night at the same time as was usual for such events, the occupants of the three great trestle tables all stood in respect when they saw that the king had entered the room but Arthur waved them all down and took his place at the head of the centre table. It still felt odd to be sitting in what had once been his father's place at the table ever since he could remember, but Arthur quickly reminded himself that he was king now, _he_ was is charge. Merlin took his customary place standing behind Arthur, ready with a pitcher of water to refill Arthur's goblet at a moments notice.

Arthur began to eat the sumptuous feast that was laid out before him with much gusto - after a hard day training he was famished and he casually chatted with the nobles and knights sitting around him. However after a few minutes of this Arthur began to feel uneasy - as if someone was watching him, the king gave a quick glance around the crowded room. Most of the people gathered were thoroughly interested in their plates of food or well into conversations with those around them.

Arthur grinned as he spotted Sir Gwaine and Sir Oswald sharing what must have been their fourth pitcher of wine. They were both leaning heavily on each other and were very red faced too. Moving his blue eyes from the drunken knights finally saw who was making him feel so uneasy.

There was a lord sitting on the left hand banquet table, right at the far end next to an deaf old scholar called Geniti. The lord was pale with slicked back, nearly shoulder length blonde hair. He had a delicate looking face, fine boned - like a bird and had cold, calculating emerald coloured eyes, beneath which there was an all consuming fire that seemed to suck in any nearby light.

But then Arthur realised, the lord wasn't staring at _him_, he was staring at something _behind_ him. He was staring at Merlin. Alarm bells began to ring in the young king's head, he didn't like this man showing such as interest in Merlin, it couldn't mean anything good. Merlin had two unfortunate habits of trusting people implicitly and also one of getting himself hurt. Usually trying to protect other people in the process. Merlin was just such a kind soul, Arthur couldn't let anything happen to him.

Arthur sent a glare towards the fixated lord, the blonde moved his cold - fire eyes to the king and replied with a silent, chilling smile. Arthur moved his eyes back away from the lord and back to his meal, but Arthur's appetite was gone now. The king picked half heartedly at his food but only to stop Merlin's cheeky comments on him being ill or "worrying about Arthur's weight." Arthur vowed to himself that he would keep Merlin away from that man, if he had anything to say about it Merlin wouldn't leave his sight until that lord was gone from Camelot.

What made Arthur shiver as he left the room an hour or so later however wasn't just the thought of what might happen to his unfortunate manservant if he was ever left alone with the blonde noble. It was the said noble's smile as he watched the king and servant leave. That smile was full of want, full of malice and something else he couldn't quite place. Arthur shivered and returned to his chambers where he lay in bed most of the night, thinking of what was unsettling him so much about one simple noble.


	3. Bad days and even worse descisions

**Bad days and even worse decisions.**

Arthur awoke the next morning after a fitful nights sleep, his head hurt and he felt exhausted. The young king thought of all the work he had to do today and groaned. Taxes, trials, reports, debates, council meetings and public addresses all in one day, not to mention training with the new knight recruits. Arthur hated politics and counsel meetings, sometimes it sucked to be the sole ruler of a kingdom as big and complicated as Camelot.

Just when Arthur was considering pulling the bed covers over his head and going back to sleep, Merlin bustled in. "Rise and shine sleepy head! Busy day today." Merlin said in his usual irritatingly happy voice, the manservant always seemed to know when Arthur was in a bad mood and exploited it by being as cheerful as possible.

"Shut up Merlin" moaned Arthur and threw a pillow at the boy which he nearly - but didn't dodge out of the way of. "Get my clothes ready and give me my breakfast, I'm starving." the blonde king knew that he almost certainly wouldn't have any time for lunch so he intended on eating as much as he could now. Arthur pushed himself into a sitting position so that he could eat the breakfast that Merlin laid out in front of him.

Arthur paused for a second before digging in to his food, was it just his imagination or did Merlin look distracted? Beneath the usual goofy smile the boy looked worried and more than a little bit tired, the king frowned but pushed it to the back of his mind. Today was going to be long enough without worrying about his idle brained servant too.

Six hours and three boring meetings later Arthur was still sitting, slightly slumped in his uncomfortable wooden chair at the round table. Most of the meetings had been spent with dull speeches, reports and requests from nobles and castle workers. Arthur drifted off into daydreams after the first two hours, he was just so tired. He knew that his handpicked court of trustworthy nobles and scholars would make the right decisions when it came to the day to day running of Camelot, he just had to be the so called "official stamp."

Arthur signed the last piece of parchment that was pushed under his quill by a slightly bemused Sir Leon, the young king sighed in relief. There just might be time for a nice hot bath before training practice with the knights. But Arthur would have to hurry to his chambers quite quickly to do so, he nearly ran into Leon as he left the hall at a hasty pace, the knight looked worried and caught Arthur's arm.

"Are you in a hurry sire?" Leon asked, Arthur nodded and moved out of the older knight's grip and continued along the corridor. "Do you want me to tell Lord Nathaniel of the new arrangements for the replacement?" Arthur nodded absentmindedly and nearly ran back to his chambers.

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Merlin looked up in surprise as the king came running through the door to the chambers. He had nearly finished cleaning the cobblestone floor and rather irritated to see Arthur's dusty footprints all over it. "I need a bath Merlin, get water and hurry about it, I've got training soon" Arthur ordered. Merlin sighed, threw the wet cloth into the bucket and left the chambers, aiming to get to the palace kitchens.

Merlin was on his way back to Arthur's chambers with yet another heavy bucket of hot water from the kitchen hearth when he bumped into Sir Leon. The knight smiled at the flustered servant and steadied him, so that Merlin didn't spill yet another bucket of the king's bath. "Ah Merlin, I've been looking for you, lord Nathaniel's serving girl has been injured and cant work, we assured him that we would give him Camelot's best." At this the knight winked. Merlin stared in confusion at Leon, was Merrill the injured servant that Leon was talking about.? "Why me?" asked Merlin, frowning.

"Well, it was rather odd to be honest, Lord Nathaniel asked for the king's servant personally. He expects you to arrive to serve him dinner tonight. Finish your work for Arthur and George will serve the king for the next few days." With that Leon turned on his heel and left Merlin standing, very confused and slightly worried. _This cant be good_ thought Merlin as he trudged back to a waiting Arthur.


	4. Dark Intentions

**Dark Intentions.**

It was late evening and Merlin was standing in the swelteringly hot kitchen. He had been informed by an incredibly irritable Mary the cook that Lord Nathaniel liked to have his food served a lot later than any of the other nobles and always in his chambers. It was nearly at the tenth stroke of night and Merlin let out a jaw cracking yawn. Mary came over to the tired servant and pushed a bowl of stew into one of his hands and a goblet of what smelt like brandy into the other. Merlin nodded his thanks to the grumpy cook and hurried from the room.

A wave of cooler night air hit Merlin the moment he began to walk along the nearly deserted castle corridors to the most luxurious guest chambers. The warlock breathed in the fresh air gratefully, he was feeling quite nervous about serving lord Nathaniel. Both Arthur and Gaius had warned him to stay away from the southern nobles but here he was, it confused Merlin that Arthur would have ever agreed to let him work for a southern noble when he had specifically told his servant to stay away from them.

_Well its too late now_ thought Merlin, he was at the door to Lord Nathaniel's chambers. Merlin took a deep, steadying breath and knocked once on the wooden door. There was a long pause and then a soft, drawling voice called "Enter." Merlin opened the door and stepped into a surprisingly dim room, there was a solitary candle on the table by the fireplace, which wasn't lit. Silhouetted behind the candle was what Merlin presumed was the form of Lord Nathaniel, it was hard to tell. All the warlock could see was a shadowed face out of which gleamed two green eyes and a pair of fine - booted feet which were propped up on the table.

"Your Meal, My lord." said Merlin in his most servant - like voice, he knew he could get away with speaking to Arthur like a friend but he had no illusions about being rude to other nobles. "Ah yes, Thank you . . What was your name?" drawled the noble. "Merlin, my lord, at your service." the warlock bowed to illustrate his point.

"Merlin. ." Lord Nathaniel rolled the name around his mouth and made it sound foreign. The noble leant foreword into the candlelight to begin eating his meal and Merlin saw his face for the first time. He was pale and had long, blonde, slicked back hair which he wore loose around his shoulders. All in all a rather striking, noble looking face which was accented well by a dark, purple velvet tunic and black breeches.

"Would there be anything else my lord?" asked Merlin. Lord Nathaniel took a sip of brandy, swallowed and then nodded. "Yes Merlin, I would like you to collect my dagger from the armoury." Merlin blanched. Collect his dagger? At this hour? That was just weird. "Your. .Your dagger my lord?" stammered the servant. "Yes, my dagger, imbecile. It was being cleaned and I want it back so go and fetch it for me." drawled the noble, he drew out his words as if Merlin were a stupid child. When the boy hesitated, Lord Nathaniel yelled "Now!"

Merlin jumped, nodded and fled out of the door and began to jog his way down the empty corridors to the armoury. Locating Lord Nathaniel's dagger took over half an hour, it was easy to recognise however when he found it. It was a glittering silver thing with amethyst inlayed in the handle in shining spirals. This dagger alone would feed all of the servants in Camelot for a month. Merlin carefully rewrapped it in its oiled cloth and set back off for the guest chambers.

When Merlin reached the glossy wooden door he knocked and waited for a few seconds. Nothing. He knocked again slightly louder, perhaps the he had fallen asleep? Merlin gently pushed the door open and poked his head through the door. "My lord?" the manservant called. Merlin took another step into the room.

The next thing Merlin knew he was being grabbed and was forcefully shoved into the wall. Suddenly there was a hand at his throat and Merlin's air supply was being cut off, all the frightened servant could see was a gleaming blonde head and glistening, fiery green eyes. "Don't _ever_ come into my chambers uninvited boy, ever! Do you hear me?" hissed the furious noble, Merlin clutched at the hand choking him desperately trying to loosen the fingers. Merlin's magic rose up in him but he knew using a spell now would just get him killed later. His vision was blurring and his face was turning purple.

"I said! _Do you hear me_?!" The lord slammed Merlin into the wall once more, he swore he could see stars. "Yyes.."  
>Choked the boy, his vision was darkening at the edges, he needed air. "Yes what?" growled Lord Nathaniel "Yes . . my lord." It took all of Merlin's will to choke out the words. Satisfied, the lord released Merlin who collapsed in a heap on the floor, gasping for air and coughing.<p>

"I expected better manners from Camelot's _finest_" remarked, inspecting his fingernails as if nothing had just happened. _Talk about bipolar_ thought Merlin as he lay on the cold cobblestone floor, still gasping, his eyes watering, the last thing that he heard was Lord Nathaniel's footsteps and the scraping a key in a lock before everything went black for the manservant.


	5. Everything is wrong

**_Hi! hope you readers are enjoying this fanfic! just thought i`d say this chapter has some backtrack (incase you got confused) Also i wanted some feedback on Lord Nathaniel! Is he creepy? Is he an effective villain? And is this really boring you? Anyway please read, review and most of all enjoy! _**

**Everything is wrong.**

Arthur awoke not to the sound of whistling, clattering, chattering or someone falling over but to birds singing and a steaming breakfast ready on the table. The young king smiled at the plate as he dug in, it was piled with fried bacon, sausages, eggs and fruit. perfect. But that was what alerted him to the potential catastrophe. Merlin would never get this all right. Even Arthur's favourite clothes were laid out and his armour was gleaming clean. So _wrong_.

"Good morning sire" Arthur spun his head to see with dismay that it was indeed George who was waiting diligently by his bedside. "Where's Merlin?" asked the suddenly worried king, ignoring the manservant's greeting completely. "I do not know sire, I was just asked to fill in his duties." responded the manservant with a straight-backed bow.

Arthur swung his legs off the bed and began dressing at top speed, something was wrong and he was going to find Merlin. It wasn't unusual for Merlin to randomly disappear but for a replacement to be called without Arthur being consulted or any explanation, that was wrong. Arthur headed straight for Gaius's chambers, breakfast forgotten.

He banged through the court physician's door at nearly a run. "Merlin!" he called, startling a potion - mixing Gaius. "Merlin isn't here. I thought he was with you sire, he didn't come home last night" Arthur noted that the old physician looked genuinely worried, the young king knew that for once he wasn't just covering up for his young ward - Gaius was really concerned. "I haven't seen him since last night sire, not since he went to work."  
>Arthur turned to leave but paused in the doorway to say "I'll find him Gaius, don't worry." Arthur spun back around and walked right into Merlin.<p>

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Merlin opened his eyes to darkness. He swallowed only to find that his throat was bloody, sore and extremely painful. The warlock shifted on the cold stone floor on which he was lying (but for the life of him he couldn't remember _why_ he was there.) "Ah finally awake are we?" drawled a soft, cultured voice from somewhere above him. Merlin jerked upright abruptly, making his head spin unpleasantly, he recognised that voice and suddenly remembered the events of the last night. Lord Nathaniel.

The said lord was standing over him with a smile that was overflowing with malicious pressure at seeing Merlin in pain. "What do you want?" The words were rough, horse and the effort of forming them sent the young warlock into a coughing fit. "Tut-tut, lost your manners again Merlin? Am I going to have to teach you some respect _again_?" Lord Nathaniel grabbed the boy by his neckerchief, pulling him to his feet, Merlin scrabbled around to make his legs support his own weight again.

"No. My lord" gasped the servant, the noble released him and pushed him away - like Merlin was something dirty. "Go now, get out of my sight. I expect my lunch served at noon boy, do not mess this up." Merlin scurried towards the door, utterly relieved that he was allowed to leave the presence of this bipolar, abusive sociopath. "Oh Merlin" called Lord Nathaniel, Merlin paused at the door and turned his head. "If you tell anyone about this I will be paying another little visit to your red haired - maid friend."

Merlin gulped, nodded and fled the room at a hastened pace. It had been Lord Nathaniel who had beaten Merrill. That thought reverberated around Merlin's head as his feet took him along the corridors of Camelot castle. The realisation filled Merlin with a rare fury that consumed all of his mind, he couldn't feel any pain just anger that his friend had been attacked by such a horrendous man. And now she was being used as leverage to stop Merlin from telling anyone what Lord Nathaniel had done to him. Merlin nearly choked on his own hatred.

The servant found himself at the door to Gaius's chambers without even consciously deciding to, he just went to the place he felt safe. He walked straight into Arthur. The blonde king was looking concerned and angry but the expression turned into one of relief and worry when he saw who he had walked into to. "Merlin!" exclaimed Arthur. Merlin pushed past him, heading straight for his room, he pushed the door shut with a snap behind him and locked it as well.

Merlin collapsed onto his bed and pulled back his neckerchief so that he could examine his neck in his mirror. The skin of his throat was bruised, swollen and mottled with the obvious shape of finger marks. Merlin cursed as Arthur started knocking on the door and called his name. "What do you want Arthur?" yelled the irate servant through the locked door. The knocking stopped at the very un-Merlin like tone of his voice, Merlin very rarely lost his temper but when he did he didn't usually behave like this, something was wrong.

"Merlin, what's wrong? What's happened?!" called Arthur. "You weren't at work this morning, George had been called in to replace you but no one knew where you were. What's going on?" Merlin blanched. George had been called in? By who? Why? It couldn't have been Lord Nathaniel, could it? And if it was then the noble obviously didn't plan on Arthur getting his servant back. And that in any way could _not_ be good.


	6. Belonging to Another

**Belonging to another.**

Arthur began banging on the door to Merlin's room again after a few seconds of silence, he knew that something was definitely wrong with Merlin but he couldn't figure out anything unless the boy would at least talk to him. "Come on Merlin! I'm not going to leave until you talk to me." There was the distinct sound of Merlin cursing and then Merlin called back through the door to his bedroom. "Just tell me what you want Arthur, or go away!"

_Well, it was a start_ thought Arthur. He decided to ask the most obvious question first.  
>"Where have you been Merlin?"<br>"Around." came the reply.  
>"That's helpful, real helpful."<br>"Oh and you're _so_ mature. Have you listened to yourself?" Merlin's voice was dripping with bitter sarcasm. Arthur ignored this and asked. But wait did Merlin's voice sound different? Hoarser? More stained?  
>"Well what happened to you then? Why weren't you at work?"<br>"What? You didn't know?" Merlin's voice now sounded genuinely surprised.  
>"Know what?"<br>"I'm not working for you at the moment remember? Sir Leon told me about it yesterday. I'm serving lord Nathaniel."

Arthur took a double take, Merlin? Working for someone else? Then Arthur remembered, Leon _had_ mentioned a Lord Nathaniel and about a servant replacement. Now that he came to think of it the young king even recalled signing the temporary transferral slip, he just hadn't been paying attention. Arthur had been feeling so tired lately that it was hard to keep track of anything. Now he understood why Merlin must be so annoyed, he was upset at having to work for someone other than Arthur. The boy always seemed to show unwavering amounts of loyalty to him, no wonder Merlin was upset.

As for the lord that Merlin was serving he had never met or even heard of Lord Nathaniel - he must be a noble who rarely visited Camelot. Arthur felt the tension uncurl his muscles and dissipate like morning fog. "Merlin, I'm sorry, I completely forgot about it and I know that you're not comfortable leaving me but I can take care of myself and I've got George to serve me." Arthur half-smiled to himself and added in an aim to normalise the situation. "There's no need to throw a tantrum over it idiot." Arthur paused for a moment and then said "Look I've got to get to training practice, we'll talk later."

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_I cant believe that Arthur is SO arrogant_ thought Merlin as he heard the king's footsteps recede and the slamming of the door. _But at least he's thought of an excuse for me as to why I wont talk to him._ Merlin gently rubbed his bruised throat and thought about possible spells to heal it or at least hide the marks.

He delved underneath his bed and pulled up the floorboard to retrieve his spell book, flicking through it he soon found a spell to hide injuries. "_Factum absconde_" The warlock's bright blue eyes flashed an unearthly gold and then he looked into the cracked mirror. The marks were gone.

Merlin sighed and flopped back onto his rickety old bed, he was tired and achy from spending the night on a cold, hard floor. The spell may well hide the bruises but his throat still felt red raw. People would probably notice that his voice was different too but Merlin supposed that there wasn't anything he could do about that. He didn't know any voice changing spells and being a servant in the least magic-friendly city in the world wasn't a good job to get spell practice in.

As his body began to relax and the adrenalin left his body Merlin began to panic. His situation was very difficult, the way Merlin could see it he only had three possible options. One - Tell Arthur about what had happened - impossible, he would just get Merrill hurt or even killed, he cared a lot about the feisty, red - haired servant (although he would never admit it to her) he didn't want her to ever get hurt again. Two - Use his magic to protect himself and Merrill, not a good idea in Camelot and not very practical either. The last option seemed to be the best one in Merlin's eyes - Ride out any abuse from Lord Nathaniel and just get through it until the noble left Camelot.

A loud ring from the city bell warned Merlin that it was nearly noon. He had to serve Lord Nathaniel very soon and dread filled his heart. But the young servant pushed it down - he had to be strong - for Merrill - for all servants who had been abused by violent nobles. With that thought in his head he set off to what he would soon realise would be a day worse than hell.


	7. Blooming Bruises

**Blossoming bruises.**

Upon entering Lord Nathaniel's chambers once he had heard the drawling voice invite him in, Merlin immediately felt something different about the room. There was a funny smell in the air, it was like something foul and rotting, the odour was so strong that the manservant nearly gagged. The other odd thing was that the room was completely trashed. There was black soot and dust all over the floor, vases and plates were smashed on the floor - creating a crunchy carpet over it. The bed was unmade and the covers were scrunched up on the floor by it, but worst of all (in Merlin's eyes at least) there were stains on the once white bed sheets that looked worryingly like blood.

"Ah, Merlin, put my food down on the table. You have a lot of work to do." The malicious smile on Lord Nathaniel's face was enough to make Merlin consider punching him - he usually wasn't a violent person but the noble seemed to bring out the worst in him. Merlin just stared at the devastated room - not even Arthur had ever given him this much work to do.

Suddenly Merlin felt a fist hit him in the stomach, hard, he doubled over and looked up through streaming eyes at the blow giver who was still smiling. "Get on with it boy, don't just stand there like the idiot you are, get to work." ordered Lord Nathaniel, gesturing to the general chaos. Merlin swallowed and got to work.

Cleaning the floor took nearly two hours and Lord Nathaniel sat with his feet on the table, watching Merlin while eating his meal the whole time with his malicious smile still in place. The noble kept on pointing out tiny specks of dirt left on the floor and little spots in the corner that he forced Merlin to scrub until his fingers were numb. The manservant began to pick up the broken pottery and glass from the table after finishing the now gleaming floor. When Merlin reached for a piece by the noble's chair Lord Nathaniel casually twitched his feet off the table as if to stand up, but instead he pushed his foot down onto Merlin's outstretched hand, crushing it down onto the sharp broken glass. The boy yelped in pain at the stabbing sensation from the shard and the bruising force from the noble's boot.

Lord Nathaniel twisted his foot down onto the poor boy's hand as if to crush an irritating bug, after a moment or so of this torture the blonde noble released Merlin, who drew back his injured hand to cradle it against his chest.  
>Merlin reached instinctively for his neckerchief to bind the wound but then inwardly cursed as he remembered that he had used a spell to hide the bruising - Lord Nathaniel would grow suspicious if he saw that the marks from his attack had gone. The servant looked up at his temporary master to see that he was staring down at Merlin's hand with a strange mixture of curiosity and amusement on his face.<p>

"Merlin, show me your hand." said the Lord, still gazing at Merlin's now bleeding hand. Warily Merlin raised his injured appendage, wondering why Lord Nathaniel wanted to see it. The noble reached out to take the servant's hand but Merlin snatched it back instantly, he didn't want the lord touching him. Lord Nathaniel frowned in what looked like irritation and exasperation, the look seemed to say "Stop being so childish." Merlin cautiously placed his hand in Lord Nathaniel's surprisingly gentle grasp , which a moment later turned into a vice like grip as Lord Nathaniel pressed his long, pale thumb into the open gash.

Merlin choked out a cry of pain as the glass shard in his hand embedded itself another few inches and then shattered into fine dust - within Merlin's hand. "Do you want me to stop?" asked the noble with a sneer upon his well - bred features. "Yes . .my lord" replied the servant through gritted teeth, the pain was making him feel queasy, he was shaking with pain and pent up anger. "I don't think I like your attitude boy." Lord Nathaniel released Merlin's now blood soaked hand and slugged him across the jaw, Merlin's magic rose up again, trying to protect him but his squashed it down, magic would just make things worse. "Show. Me. Some. Respect." Each word was punctuated with another blow, his whole body was being pummelled and when Merlin tried to roll away Lord Nathaniel began to kick his back instead.

When the blonde noble had done he stood, brushed himself down and looked down at the curled up manservant who was gasping with pain on the now blood spotted floor. "Clean up this mess and don't leave my chambers until you have served me my evening meal. I will know if you have." With that Lord Nathaniel turned on his heel and left the room in a swirl of purple velvet. Drama queen thought Merlin, odd the things you think of when you've just been brutally beaten. The manservant heard the lock click. Merlin gingerly pushed himself to his feet and swayed for a moment before deciding that if he was spending the rest of his day in here he may as well get some work done.


	8. Exhaustion and Ice

_**Hi! sorry about the delay, i hope you enjoy this chapter, sorry if its a bit dull but the next chapter will pick up a bit more i promise! So please enjoy and review! Also i would like lots of feedback and suggestions it really helps with my writing! A quick thanks to mersan123 and MamzelleHermy, you guys are great! :) **_

**Exhaustion and ice. **

Arthur was bored. He had spent the whole of his one nearly free day off (apart from the feast tonight) listening to George's irritatingly mundane chatter and bad jokes about brass cleaning. _Brass_. Arthur couldn't wait to get Merlin back, at least his jokes were sometimes funny or at least not cringe worthy. The young king stared around his chambers in vague disinterest, he had been feeling so demandable tired recently, he guessed it was George's boring chatter but there was something in the back of his mind that told him it was something more.

Arthur considered getting outside and practicing with the knights but even the thought of it made him feel exhausted. But Arthur decided that he had to get out of his chambers at some point so stood and briskly walked out of his room and through the corridor's of the castle. The blonde young man lost himself in his own thoughts as he wondered randomly about the castle, he thought of the knights, of his would - have been wife - Gwen and of how much he wanted Merlin to return. There was never a dull moment with the cheeky manservant around, without him there was just endless seeming boredom. _Stop moping Arthur! Merlin will be back in two days time._ Arthur told himself.

"Hello princess!" Arthur looked up in surprise to see that he had somehow wandered down onto the practice fields. Gwaine was grinning at him, the knight wasn't wearing his chain mail but instead sported his practice leathers and held his dulled sword in hand. "Hai Gwaine, that would be _king_ to you." called Arthur, returning with his own toothy grin. Both men shared a chuckle. At least some things never changed.

"Fancy testing your mettle against me Arthur?" asked Gwaine "Who knows you might actually beat me this time." Arthur looked indignantly at the charming rogue knight. "Hey! That wasn't a fair fight, you got me drunk first!" Gwaine grin widened and he threw the young king a practice sword which he caught (Only just) and replied "Yeah, that may be true but the trick there was that **_I_**practice drunk all the time, you just aren't used to it."

Arthur and Gwaine began to circle each other, swords in the "Guard" position, Gwaine lunged first, stabbing at Arthur's chest. Arthur blocked the move with ease and swung his own sword at Gwaine who blocked just as easily. The simple block, counter - block and attack routine went on for a while, a small crowd had gathered around the two fighters by now and they watched eagerly as Gwaine suddenly broke out of the routine.

Gwaine slashed at Arthur's unprotected shoulder, the blonde king tried to block the move but his body felt far too slow and sluggish. Gwaine`s dulled blade hit Arthur with such a bruising force that he fell backward with a grunt of pain. Gwaine stared down at Arthur in surprise, he hadn't expected the king to actually not have been able to block that blow. Arthur pushed himself to his feet, flushed with embarrassment and a sudden wave of dizzying heat. What was wrong with him? "Practice is over Gwaine. I'm feeling rather tired and anyway I've got to prepare for the feast."

Arthur stumbled away from the practice grounds, fuming with irritation and humiliation, he had just messed up in front of all of the knights. He heard Gwaine call behind him "Arthur!" but the king ignored him and marched back to his quarters where a waiting George dressed him in his finery and crown. What was happening? All this exhaustion, sluggishness and now failing in some simple exercise? Arthur decided that first thing tomorrow he would go to Gaius and get something to fix - whatever_ this_ was.

When Arthur entered the great hall once more everything went as it usually would on a boring occasion like this. He sat quickly with George standing dutifully behind him, a little too close for Arthur's liking but then he supposed that he just didn't like George standing as close to him as Merlin did. Gods it felt like an eternity since he had seen the young manservant even though it had only been a matter of days.

Arthur's eyes kept on flickering shut, he just felt so damned _tired_, the lords around him quickly gave up trying to make any sort of conversation with him. Arthur shook himself both mentally and physically, he glanced up and saw something that made his blood run cold. Merlin: he was standing across the room from him, head bowed, hands respectfully clasped behind his back, so servant - like. So _wrong_.

The young manservant was pale - paler than usual and wall incredibly skinny looking, _Not like he didn't already need more weight on him_ thought Arthur. There were dark blue and purple bruises along Merlin's jaw and one just below his left eye. The boy's sapphire eyes were cast down, avoiding anyone's gaze which was very unusual for the usually social able and cheerful manservant.

But it wasn't Merlin's appearance or bearing that made Arthur's ice cold blood begin to boil - it made it feel like he was being burnt with ice. It was that Merlin was standing behind the blonde lord who had been staring at Merlin two nights before. This must be Lord Nathaniel.

Damn.


	9. Its all bleeding coming together

_**Hi readers! I`m really sorry about the delay, i`ve been SUPER busy! Anyway read, enjoy and tell your friend! :)  
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**Its all bleeding coming together.**

At the end of the feast Merlin hurried out of the hall, after Lord Nathaniel and back towards the dim, hellishness of his chambers. Merlin was aching, sore and he swore that his left ankle must have been sprained because walking along after the quick strides of Lord Nathaniel was sending pain shooting up his leg, making him wince with every step.

A few people had tried to catch his eye in the banquet hall but he had just pretended not to notice them, a rather drunk Gwaine had shouted across to him but he had simply given the knight a small smile and returned his gaze back to the floor. Merlin knew that if he got engaged in any prolonged conversation with anyone he knew they would instantly be able to tell there was something wrong and that would lead to awkward questions. But Merlin couldn't let anyone know, it would not only hurt him but it would almost certainly get Merrill killed.

"Lord Nathaniel!" a voice called behind them. Merlin's hurried steps faltered and he nearly walked in the lord as he stopped just in front of the suddenly pale manservant. That was Arthur's voice. _**Damn. **_The king was striding down the corridor towards them at quite a brisk pace, he stopped a foot away from Lord Nathaniel who turned with a deceivingly sincere smile on his Hawke - like features. "Can I help you sire?"

Arthur stood, staring at Lord Nathaniel for a moment, panting slightly as if he been running. Merlin kept his sapphire eyes fixed on his scuffed boots. "I don't believe we've been formally introduced. I thought I should get to know some of my late father's partners." Even Lord Nathaniel raised his eyebrows at _that _pitiful excuse.

"Of coarse sire, I would be delighted but I'm afraid that I find myself very tired this evening, so maybe another time." replied Lord Nathaniel. Merlin couldn't suppress a snort of derision at this, _Beating servants making you feel a little tired huh? _thought Merlin but he was smart enough not to say this out loud. Both the king's and the lord's eyes snapped to Merlin at the sound, the emerald showing a flash of anger, the sapphire filled with a questioning confusion.

"I hope my manservant has been serving you well over the last few days, Lord Nathaniel?" queried Arthur, his gaze still fixed on Merlin's bowed head. The blonde lord slid his eyes back to the king at this. "Yes, Merlin has been an adequate substitute apart from a slight . . . Attitude issue, but that is no longer a problem. Now if you'll excuse me I really would like to retire and you look like you should do the same. Good night sire."

With another over - dramatic swirl of burgundy velvet Lord Nathaniel turned on heal and strode back down the corridor. Merlin hurried after him, eager not to tempt himself by being alone with Arthur. The king stood in the corridor for a moment staring after them, Merlin turned his head slightly and gave Arthur a small, broken smile. The blonde king did not return it, he just left in the opposite direction.

Once back in Lord Nathanial's chambers, the noble dropped his "calm lord" demeanour and grabbed Merlin by the scruff of his shirt and shoved him into the wall. "Don't try anything like that again boy, I swear that if you do both you and your pathetic little excuse for a king will suffer for it." The lord smiled a malicious smile and whispered. "Although, he will be suffering quite soon anyway." Merlin bristled, threats and insults

to himself he could deal with - but threats to Arthur? Now _that _was personal. "Arthur is a great king, better than any abusive, melodramatic arse like you could ever be." Merlin spat at the lord. The noble's smile widened and turned positively evil. "Oh, its funny you should mention that Merlin. Because once I'm finished with your blonde moron I will be the one taking over - not our mutual lady sorceress." _Morgana_ thought Merlin _this just keeps getting better and better. _

"But although she said she defiantly wanted Arthur dead I think I'm just going to get you too" Lord Nathaniel closed his pale hand around Merlin's skinny wrist, "_**Fore Berne**_" he whispered. Merlin's wrist began to burn in his grip, the skin was nearly bubbling, he yelled out in pain. Lord Nathaniel laughed nastily, released Merlin and went to leave. He paused as Merlin slid down the wall, his vision was darkening with pain. "I'll come back for you once I've finished off your king."

Those word's broke through the haze of pain and got Merlin gradually to his feet. _finished off your king… _No, he couldn't let that happen, it was his destiny to protect Arthur. But first things first, Merlin looked down at his wrist and chanted "_**Wease Heal**_" nothing happened. Then he remembered that he hadn't properly learned how to heal magical injuries. _I really need to look that up sometime…._

Merlin sighed and tore a strip of his shirt and wrapped it tightly around the tender, sizzling flesh of his wrist, he winced. Merlin ran out of the room and into the outer corridor, he knew the way to Arthur's chambers - he had done it a thousand times before, just a flight of stairs down to his room now. There was a sound to his right, he slowed for a second - just as his foot connected with something solid. Merlin careered forward, over the edge of the top step . . Only to feel someone grab onto his jacket at the last second. Merlin turned his head - expecting to see a knight but instead saw a man dressed in Camelot issue red. George.

"Lady Morgana said she would prefer you alive but I'm sure she wont be too sad to hear that the you died tragically while running to save your master." With that George simply .. Let go. Merlin flailed for a second, trying to regain his balance but teetered over the edge of the top step. The next few moments were a blur of crashing, stone and pain and then when the world stopped spinning it just .. Went black.


	10. Leave a Scar

**Leave a scar.**

Arthur was so _tired_. He was sitting, slumped against the table with his head barely propped up on his arm. He had been sitting in the dark room for quite a while now, there was one or two candles lit around the room but they did little to chase away the shadows at the edge of Arthur's vision. The only thing stopping him from dropping into sleep was his raging and confused thoughts of his first encounter with Lord Nathaniel.

Arthur could only think of the noble without shuddering by telling himself that he hadn't done anything wrong. Or had he? Merlin's behaviour around Lord Nathaniel was just wrong, he was quiet, subdued and far too polite too be normal for him. The young king took a sip of water from his goblet to try to refresh his fuzzed brain. The bruises over Merlin's face and the pronounced limp in his walk should have worried Arthur but he couldn't seem to be able to focus on anything very much.

Somehow Arthur suddenly found that his head was resting on the wood of his desk. He vaguely supposed that he should get up and go to bed but the idea of even moving that short distance made the king feel even more exhausted and he found his eyes gradually drifting closed.

Was it a dream or did he hear footsteps? Well dream or not he soon heard the door to his chambers open, there was the sound of two sets of footsteps and what sounded like something being dragged across the cobblestones. He heard voices too but in his hazed state he didn't really recognise either of them - both male voices though. "… but why did you bring it here? He's bleeding everywhere. Our lady will be furious." said one voice in obvious annoyance.

The other replied to this in a rather quiet voice. "I don't think she'll care that much my lord, she said she wanted to get revenge on the king and on him but this _is _revenge so we didn't do anything wrong. Anyway I'll just say that he tripped, everyone knows how clumsy he is." the last part seemed to be almost to himself. The footsteps stopped, closer this time and Arthur heard something fleshy sounding hit the floor, there was a pained, pitiful moan then for a moment silence.

"Oh… oh god.. I think He's still alive my lord." whispered the second voice in what Arthur vaguely recognised as horror. "Oh stop snivelling George, at least we can still deliver him to Morgana once we've finished off this little blonde moron." sneered the first voice, he heard one pair of footsteps draw closer. _hah _thought Arthur giddily _that's a funny word, closer, cloooosssser. Hah. _Some small part of his brain told the dominant part to shut up and get it together.

"You gave him all of the doses right?" asked the first voice. "Yes" replied the second immediately. "Arthur, I know you can hear me can't you?" Arthur forced his heavy eyelids open to stare up at the form of Lord Nathaniel, the not so - noble smiled at this.

"Lady Morgana spent a long time on this potion you know. Given in small doses over a few days it would induce such great fatigue that by the end the victim would be in a waking coma, they can see and hear and _feel_. But let me make this very clear Arthur, _you cant stop me." _The blonde lord was ticking nearly every single box for "creepy as hell" villain of the year award apart from the evil laugh - which he then proceeded to do. _Sigh._

"Of coarse she intends to take over Camelot once you are dead but I'm afraid that that's not going to happen. Camelot is _mine_ now." continued Lord Nathaniel still smiling sinisterly down at the stricken king. _Gods why do all evil people have the same "I'm so smart and wonderful" monologue? _thought Arthur irritably but what the emerald eyed man said next drew Arthur's attention immediately. "Once you and your meddling little servant are dead I will be free to take over Camelot, I have made some very important connections over the years. Although you have to die for me to take over I'm going to kill Merlin too" said the lord, his smile turning practically menacing. "Oh, and just so you know Arthur, Merlin is going to suffer a lot more than he already has before _he_ dies. He has ruined too many of Morgana`s plans and nearly ruined mine as well. You have a very irritating servant you know."

Arthur's eyes widened in terror as Lord Nathaniel spoke, not only for himself but for Merlin. What had happened to him? "You want to see your manservant one last time eh Arthur?" said the lord "George, bring over our little would be hero so that the king can see." Arthur heard George's shuffling footsteps as he dragged Merlin into Arthur's line of sight. The young king actually managed to clench his fists in fury at what he saw.

Merlin was pale, deathly so and every inch of his crumpled, battered body looked bruised and painful. The boy's left leg was twisted at such an unnatural angle that Arthur knew it was broken - badly by the looks of it. There was a scorched and charred band of red raw flesh around his wrist and there was a huge bloody gash on the servant's forehead that was slowly trickling blood onto Merlin's face - staining it war paint red. But by far the worst thing about the whole scene was that Arthur couldn't see Merlin breathing.

"Goodbye Arthur." said Lord Nathaniel as he drew his knife and plunged it towards Arthur's unprotected heart. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." said a voice behind the treacherous noble. Lord Nathaniel spun to face the speaker. "I wonder if the guards would be interested with any of this. Hmmm, bet you can't catch me before I get to them." The fiery haired girl ran.


End file.
